1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a portable Personal Identification Number (PIN) card which allows a user to enter a PIN code at a location remote from an authorization terminal. The PIN number is entered into volatile RAM and will remain active for some finite period of time. The PIN, along with a random number input from a remote computer is processed through a code matrix contained within the card to generate an image of the PIN (CGIPIN), which can be compared at either the authorization terminal or at a remote computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Credit card fraud has become an ever growing problem in recent years. Another development has been the rapid onset of electronic fund transfer through the use of bank debit cards. As a protection against fraud, it is widely held that a PIN is one of the best methods for providing the cardholder and the issuer of the card with good security.
The PIN is known only to the cardholder and the card company. When the cardholder desires access to funds, he must identify himself to the credit card company's computer through the combination of the card and his PIN code. This system is familiar to anyone who uses automatic bank teller machines. However, the PIN code is vulnerable to public visibility.
The use of a PIN code is limited to situations where a user is physically present at an authorization terminal. This rules out the use of a PIN code in many desirable service areas where it is awkward for the cardholder to come to a fixed authorization terminal. A restaurant is one such example. This is the current state of affairs when the use of PIN codes is integrated with debit or credit cards.
A chip card with an on-board keypad can be used to circumvent this problem. Current versions of chip cards utilize a permanently stored PIN code. However, it is undesirable that the PIN code be permanently stored within the card. It is also undesirable for the PIN code to be transmitted over communication lines because it is possible with sophisticated electronic interrogation to extract a cardholder's PIN code.
It is therefore an object of this invention that the cardholder's PIN is never permanently stored in the chip card and is never transmitted over communications lines.
It is therefore an object of this invention to allow a remote central computer facility or an authorization terminal to validate a cardholder's identity through the use of a PIN code entered into a chip card by the cardholder at the time of the desired validation.
It is therefore a further object of this invention that the remote facility can communicate safely with a central computer by means of ordinary non-protected communication lines.
It is therefore a further object of this invention that the system have sufficient mobile capabilities so as to allow a user to enter the PIN at various locations, such as at any of the tables in a restaurant.